Roy E. Plotnick Publications

Mazon Creek

• Plotnick, R. E., G. A. Young, and J. W. Hagadorn. 2023. An abundant sea anemone from the Carboniferous Mazon Creek Lagerstӓtte, USA. Papers in Palaeontology 9(2):e1479.  Winner of the Best Paper Award! 

Arthropod Paleobiology

• Eldredge, N., and R. Plotnick. 1974. A revision of the pseudoniscine merostome genus Cyamocephalus Currie. American Museum Notivates 2557:1-10.

• Plotnick, R. E. 1990. Paleobiology of the arthropod cuticle. Pp. 177-196. In D. G. Mikulic, ed. Arthropod Paleobiology. Short Couses in Paleontology. Number 3. Paleontological Society.

• Plotnick, R. and D. Elliott. 1995. A new eurypterid from the Devonian of the Canadian Arctic. J. Paleontology 69:399-401.

• Plotnick, R. 1997. Eurypterids. p. 208-210 IN Shabica, C. and A. Hay (eds.) Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek. Northeastern Illinois University

• Plotnick, R. 1999. Llandoverian-Lochkovian eurypterid communities. P. 106-131. IN: Boucot, A. and J. Lawson (ed.) Paleocommunities: A Case Study from the Silurian and Lower Devonian. Cambridge University Press.

• Lofgren, A. S., R. Plotnick, and P. Wagner, 2003. Morphological diversity of Carboniferous arthropods and insights on disparity patterns through the Phanerozoic. Paleobiology 29(3):350-369

• Plotnick, R.E. and D. M. Smith 2012. Exceptionally preserved fossil insect ears from the Eocene Green River formation of Colorado. Journal of Paleontology 86:1039-1044.  

• Stigall, A. L., R. E. Plotnick, and L. E. P. Boush. 2017. The first Cenozoic spinicaudatans from North America. Journal of Paleontology 91(3):467-476. 

• Antonietto, L. S., L. E. Park Boush, R. E. Plotnick, and A. L. Stigall. 2020. Paleoecological aspects of Western United States nonmarine ostracods during the Eocene–Oligocene transition: The Early Oligocene faunas of the Renova Formation, Southwestern Montana. PALAIOS 35(4):165-174.

• Collette, J. H., and R. E. Plotnick. 2020. Redescription, paleogeography, and experimental paleoecology of the Silurian phyllocarid Gonatocaris. Journal of Paleontology 94(5):906-921.

• Novack-Gottshall, P. M., and R. E. Plotnick. 2021. Correcting a 135-year error: Limulidae Leach, 1819 (Chelicerata, Xiphosura) is the proper authority, not Limulidae Zittel, 1885. Journal of Paleontology 95(4):886-887.

• Plotnick, R. 2021. Devonian eurypterids from Indiana and Pennsylvania. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 33(2): 5-16.

• Schmidt, M., R. R. Melzer, R. E. Plotnick, and R. D. C. Bicknell. 2022. Spines and baskets in apex predatory sea scorpions uncover unique feeding strategies using 3D-kinematics. iScience 25(1). 

• Plotnick, R. E., and Bicknell, R. D. C., 2022, The eurypterid endostoma and its homology with other chelicerate structures: Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, v. 63, no. 2, p. 91-109.

• Plotnick, R. E., and Lamsdell, J. C., 2022, Eurypterids from the Price Formation of Virginia: first eurypterids from the Mississippian of North America: Journal of Paleontology 97(1):167-171. 

• Plotnick, R. E., and McCarroll, S., 2023, Variation and taphonomic implications of composition in modern and fossil malacostracan cuticles (Decapoda: Malacostraca): Journal of Crustacean Biology, v. 43, no. 3.

• Bicknell, R. D. C., Lenny, K., and Plotnick, R. E., 2023, Ex vivo three-dimensional reconstruction of Acutiramus : a giant pterygotid sea scorpion: American Museum Novitates, v. 4004, p. 20.

• Zamora, S., Á. García-Penas, C. Klug, R. E. Plotnick, and B. Bádenas. 2025. Early Devonian non-trilobite arthropods from the Iberian Chains (North East, Spain). Historical Biology:1-12.

Functional Morphology

• Plotnick, R. 1985. Lift-based mechanisms for swimming in eurypterids and portunid crabs. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 76(2-3):325-337.

• Plotnick, R. and T. Baumiller, 1988. The pterygotid telson as a biological rudder. Lethaia, 21:13-27.

• Baumiller, T. K., and R. E. Plotnick. 1989. Rotational stability in stalked crinoids and the function of wing plates in Pterotocrinus depressus. Lethaia 22(3):317-326.

• Wetmore, K. L., and R. E. Plotnick. 1992. Correlations between test morphology, crushing strength, and habitat in Amphistegina gibbosa, Archaias angulatus, and Laevipeneroplis proteus from Bermuda. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 22(1):1-12.

• Plotnick, R. and T. Baumiller. 2000. Invention by evolution: functional analysis in paleobiology. Pp. 305-323 In: Erwin, D.H. and S. L. Wing, eds. Deep Time: Paleobiology’s Perspective. (Supplement to vol. 26(4) of Paleobiology). Paleontological Society. 

• Singer, A., R. Plotnick, and M. Laflamme. 2012. Experimental fluid mechanics of an Ediacaran frond. Palaeontologia Electronica 15(2).

• Plotnick, R., B. F. Dattilo, D. Piquard, J. Bauer, and J. Corrie. 2013. The orientation of strophomenid brachiopods on soft substrates. Journal of Paleontology 87(5):818-825. Online publication of this article made possible by financial support from the Research Open Access Publishing (ROAAP) Fund of the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

• Plotnick, R. E., and J. Bauer. 2014. Crinoids aweigh: experimental biomechanics of Ancyrocrinus holdfasts. . Pp. 1-18. In D. I. Hembree, B. F. Platt, and J. J. Smith, eds. Experimental Approaches to Understanding Fossil Organisms. Springer, Dordrecht.

• Plotnick, R. E., C. M. Ebey, and A. Zinga. 2016. A radicle solution: morphology and biomechanics of the Eucalyptocrinites ‘root’ system. Lethaia 49(1):130-144.

Taphonomy

• Plotnick, R., 1986. Taphonomy of a modern shrimp: implications for the arthropod fossil record. PALAIOS 1:286-293.

• Plotnick, R., Baumiller, T., and Wetmore, K., 1988. Fossilization potential of the mud crab Panopeus (Brachyura: Xanthidae) and time dependence in crustacean taphonomy. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 63:27-43.

• Plotnick, R. E., S. McCarroll, and E. Powell. 1990. Crab death assemblages from Laguna Madre and vicinity, Texas. PALAIOS 5:81-87.

• Plotnick, R. E. 1993. Taphonomy: perfecting the fossil record. Geotimes 38(11):14-16.

• Behrensmeyer, A. K., F. T. Fürsich, R. A. Gastaldo, S. M. Kidwell, M. A. Kosnik, M. Kowalewski, R. E. Plotnick, R, R. Rogers, J. Alroy 2005. Are the most durable taxa also the most common in the fossil record? Paleobiology 31: 591-606

• Kosnik, M.A., A.K. Behrensmeyer, F.T. Fürsich, R.A. Gastaldo, S.M. Kidwell, M. Kowalewski, R.E. Plotnick, R.R. Rogers, P.J. Wagner and J. Alroy. 2011. Changes in the shell durability of common marine taxa through the Phanerozoic: evidence for biological rather than taphonomic drivers. Paleobiology 37(2):303-331.

• Cody, G. D., N. S. Gupta, D. E. G. Briggs, A. L. D. Kilcoyne, R. E.Summons, F. Kenig, R. E. Plotnick, A. C. Scott. 2011. A molecular signature of chitin-protein complex in Paleozoic arthropods. Geology 39(3): 255–258 

• Fraser, W. T., A. C. Scott, A. E. S. Forbes, I. J. Glasspool, R. E. Plotnick, F. Kenig, and B. H. Lomax. 2012. Evolutionary stasis of sporopollenin biochemistry revealed by unaltered Pennsylvanian spores. New Phytologist 196(2):397-401. 

• Boblitt, C. M., R. E. Plotnick, F. Kenig, and D. Meyer-Dombard. 2018. Determining taphonomic controls and rates of decay in cave environments using microcosms. PALAIOS 33(4):141-153.

Trace Fossils and the Evolution of Sensory Behavior

• Plotnick, R. 2003. Ecological and L-system based simulations of trace fossils. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 192: 45-58

• Honeycutt, C. and Plotnick R. 2005. Mathematical analysis of Paleodictyon: a graph theory approach. Lethaia 38:345-350 

• Koy, K. and R. Plotnick 2007. Theoretical and experimental ichnology of mobile foraging. in . Miller III, W. Trace Fossils: Concepts, Problems and Prospects Elsevier. 

• Plotnick, R. 2007. Chemoreception, odor landscapes, and foraging in ancient marine landscapes. Palaeontologia Electronica, 10, (1); 1A:11p, 1.48MB; http://palaeo-electronica.org/2007_1/marine/marine.pdf

• Honeycutt, C. E., and R. Plotnick. 2008. Image analysis techniques and gray-level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM) for calculating bioturbation indices and characterizing biogenic sedimentary structures. Computers & Geosciences 34(11):1461-1472.

• Koy, K. and R. Plotnick 2009. Effect of the odorant of the predatory flatworm Dugesia gonocephala on the foraging behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans. Journal of Nematology.40(4): 286-289

• Plotnick, R., S. Q. Dornbos, and J. Chen. 2010. Information landscapes and sensory ecology of the Cambrian Radiation. Paleobiology 36(2):303-317. 

• Koy, K., and R. E. Plotnick. 2010. Ichnofossil morphology as a response to resource distribution: insights from modern invertebrate foraging. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 292:272–281

• Plotnick, R. 2012. Behavioral biology of trace fossils. Paleobiology. 38(3): 459–473.  Online publication of this article made possible by financial support from the Research Open Access Publishing (ROAAP) Fund of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

• Hsieh, S., Schassburger, A., and Plotnick, R. E. 2019. The modern and fossil record of farming behavior. Paleobiology. 45(3):395-404. 

• Hsieh, S., and R. E. Plotnick. 2020. The representation of animal behaviour in the fossil record. Animal Behaviour 169:65-80.

• Hsieh, S., R. E. Plotnick, and A. M. Bush. 2022. The Phanerozoic aftermath of the Cambrian information revolution: sensory and cognitive complexity in marine faunas. Paleobiology:48(3):397-419. 

Fractals and Numerical Methods

• Plotnick, R. 1986. A fractal model for the distribution of stratigraphic hiatuses. J. Geol. 94:885-890

• Plotnick, R., 1989. Application of bootstrap methods to reduced major axis line fitting. Systematic Zoology, 38:144-153.

• Plotnick, R. and K. Prestegaard, 1993. Fractal analysis of geologic time series. p. 207-224 IN Lam, N. and DeCola, L. eds. Fractals in Geography.

• Plotnick, R. and K. Prestegaard. 1995. Fractal methods for the analysis of stratigraphic sequences. p. 73-96. IN: C. Barton and P. LaPointe, eds. Fractals in Petroleum Geology and Earth Processes. Plenum.

• Prestegaard, K. and R. Plotnick. 1995. New models require new data: multifractal models of gravel bedload transport. p. 113-126 IN C. Barton and P. LaPointe, eds. Fractals in Petroleum Geology and Earth Processes. Plenum

• Middleton, G., R. Plotnick, and D. Rubin. 1995. Nonlinear Dynamics and Fractals: New Numerical Techniques for Sedimentary Data. SEPM Short Course 36.

• Plotnick, R., R. Gardner, W. Hargrove, M. Perlmutter, and K. Prestegaard. 1996. Lacunarity analysis: a general technique for the analysis of spatial patterns. Physical Review E, 53:5461-5468.

• Jiang, J. and R. Plotnick. 1998. Fractal analysis of the coastlines of the United States. Mathematical Geology, 30: 535-546

• Honeycutt, C. E., R. E. Plotnick, and F. Kenig. 2014. Breaking free from the matrix: Segmentation of fossil images. Palaeontologia Electronica 17(3):1-18.

• Plotnick, R. E. 2017. Recurrent hierarchical patterns and the fractal distribution of fossil localities. Geology 45(4):295-298.

• Dombard, A.J., W. S. Tucker, R. Joniak, R. E. Plotnick. 2022 Spherical multi-lacunarity reveals possible equatorial-polar differences in crater densities on the dwarf planet Ceres. Icarus. 84:115076

Macroevolution, the Fossil Record, and the Anthropocene

• Plotnick, R. E. 1980. Relationship between biological extinctions and geomagnetic reversals. Geology 8(12):578-581.

• Plotnick, R. and M. McKinney. 1993. Ecosystem organization and extinction dynamics. PALAIOS, 8:202-212.

• Plotnick, R. 1996. The ecological play and the geological theater. PALAIOS 11(3):207-208.

• Aronson, R. and R. Plotnick. 1998. Coordinated stasis and community integration: a scale-independent interpretation of macroevolutionary dynamics. P. 430-450 IN McKinney, M. & J. Drake (ed.). Biodiversity Dynamics. Columbia.

• Plotnick. R. and J.J. Sepkoski, Jr. 2001. A multifractal model for originations and extinctions . Paleobiology, 27:126-139.

• Plotnick, R. and P. Wagner, 2006. Round up the usual suspects: common genera in the fossil record and the nature of wastebasket taxa. Paleobiology 32(1):126-146.

• Plotnick, R. E., F. A. Smith, and S. K. Lyons. 2016. Fossil record of the Sixth Extinction. Ecology Letters. 19(5): 546-553. 

• Wagner, P., R. E. Plotnick, and S. K. Lyons. 2018. Evidence for trait-based dominance in occupancy among fossil taxa and the decoupling of macroecological and macroevolutionary success. The American Naturalist 192(3): E120-E138. .

• Plotnick, R. E., and P. Wagner. 2018. The greatest hits of all time: the histories of dominant genera in the fossil record. Paleobiology: https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2018.15

• Plotnick, R. E., and K. A. Koy. 2020. The Anthropocene fossil record of terrestrial mammals. Anthropocene 29:100233.

• Plotnick, R. E. 2023. Disengaging with the past: extinction and resets of the biosphere. p. 205-216 In Dover, P. M. Engaging with the Past and Present. Routledge Press

Landscape and Spatial Ecology

• Plotnick, R. and R. Gardner. 1993. Lattices and landscapes. pp. 129-162 IN Gardner, R., ed. Some Mathematical Questions in Biology: Predicting Spatial Effects in Ecological Systems. American Mathematical Society.

• Plotnick, R., G. Gardner, and R. V. O'Neill 1993. Lacunarity indices as measures of landscape texture. Landscape Ecology, 8:201-211.

• Plotnick, R. and R. Gardner. 2002. A general model for simulating the effects of landscape heterogeneity and disturbance on community patterns. Ecological Modeling, 147: 171-197 

• Gardner, R., J Forester and R. Plotnick 2007. Determining pattern-process relationship in heterogeneous landscapes. IN: J. Wu and R. Hobbs, eds. Key Topics in Landscape Ecology. Cambridge Studies in Landscape Ecology.

• Pasterski, M. J., A. Bellagamba, S. Chancellor, A. Cunje, E. Dodd , K. Gefeke, S. Hsieh, A. Schassburger, A. Smith, W. Tucker, and R. E. Plotnick. 2020. Aquatic landscape change, extirpations, and introductions in the Chicago Region. Urban Ecosystems. 23: 1277-1288.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-020-01001-6 

Quantitative Stratigraphy 

• Plotnick, R. 1999. Landscape ecology and quantitative stratigraphy: parallel perspectives on spatial heterogeneity. Pp.271-278 IN: Harbaugh, et al., eds. Numerical Experiments in Stratigraphy, SEPM Special Publications, no. 62 

• Perlmutter, M., and R. Plotnick. 2002. Predictable Variations in the Marine Stratigraphic Record of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and Reservoir Potential. Gulf Coast Section SEPM Proceedings 22:231-256.

• Perlmutter, M.A. and R.E. Plotnick, 2003. Hemispheric asymmetry of the stratigraphic record: conceptual proof of unipolar glaciation, in C.B Cecil and N. T. Edgar (ed.), Climate Controls on Stratigraphy, SEPM Spec. Pub. 77: 51-68

• Zhang, T. and R. Plotnick. 2006. Graphic correlation using genetic algorithms. Mathematical Geology:38(7): 781-800 

• Plotnick, R. E. 2016. Lattice models in ecology, paleontology, and geology. IN: Autogenic Dynamics and Self-Organization in Sedimentary Systems. SEPM Special Publication 106.: 83-94.

Paleokarsts 

• Glasspool, I.J., Collinson,M.E. Scott, A.C. Brain, A.T. Plotnick, R.E. and Kenig F. 2009. An ultrastructural investigation of early Middle Pennsylvanian megaspores from the Illinois Basin, USA..Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 156:62–78

• Plotnick, R. E., F. Kenig, A. C. Scott, I. J. Glasspool, C. F. Eble, and W.J. Lang 2009. Pennsylvanian paleokarst and fills from northern Illinois, U.S.A.: a window into Late Carboniferous environments and landscapes. PALAIOS 24:627-637. 

• Scott, A. C., F. Kenig, Plotnick, R. E., I. J. Glasspool, W. Chaloner, C. F. Eble 2010. Evidence of multiple Late Bashkirian to Early Moscovian (Pennsylvanian) fire events preserved in contemporaneous cave fills. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 291:72–84

• Plotnick, R. E., F. Kenig, and A. C. Scott. 2015. Using the voids to fill the gaps: Caves, time, and stratigraphy. Pp. 233-250. In D. G. Smith, R. J. Bailey, P. M. Burgess, and A. J. Fraser, eds. Strata and Time: Probing the Gaps in Our Understanding. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 404.

Science Education, Outreach. and Employment

• Plotnick, R. 1999. Creating models for interpreting data. Pp. 343-360 IN J. Scotchmoor and D. Springer, eds. Evolution: Investigating the Evidence. Paleontological Society Special Publication 9. 

• Plotnick, R. E. 2008. A somewhat fuzzy snapshot of employment in paleontology in the United States. Palaeontologia Electronica 11(1).

• Varelas, M. Plotnick, R. Wink, D., Fan, Q. Harris, Y. 2008. Inquiry and connections in integrated science content courses for elementary education majors. J. College Science Teaching. 37(5):40-47. 

• Plotnick, R., Varelas, M. and Fan, Q. 2009. Physical World: an integrated earth science, astronomy and physics course for elementary education majors. Journal of Geoscience Education, 57(2):152-158. pdf

• Plotnick, R. E., A. L. Stigall, and I. Stefanescu. 2014. Evolution of Paleontology: Long-term gender trends in an earth-science discipline GSA Today 24(11):44-45.

• Plotnick, R., J. Theodor, and T. Holtz. 2015. Jurassic Pork: What Could a Jewish Time Traveler Eat? Evolution: Education and Outreach 8(1):17.

• Plotnick, R. E., B. M. Anderson, S. J. Carlson, A. Jukar, J. Kimmig, and E. Petsios. 2025. Employment in paleontology: status and trends in the United States. Paleobiology:1-11.

Other

• Plotnick, R., and G. Harris. 1989. X-Ray analysis using energy dispersive and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy. Pp. 179-185. In R. M. Feldmann, R. E. Chapman, and J. T. Hannibal, eds. Paleotechniques. Paleontological Society Special Publication No. 4.

Opinion (and you're welcome to mine) I blog on Medium!

• Plotnick, R. 2007. SWOTTing at Paleontology. American Paleontologist, 15(4): 21-23. Posted with permission of Paleontological Research Institution.

• Plotnick, R. 2008. A somewhat fuzzy snapshot of employment in paleontology in the United States. Palaeontologica Electronica, 11(1)

• Plotnick, R. 2009. Out of the mainstream: U.S. science redux. Palaeontologica Electronica, 12(1)

• Plotnick, R. 2010. Out of the mainstream: the World of Paleontology. Palaeontologica Electronica, 13(1)

• Plotnick, R. 2011. Out of the mainstream: Fossil collecting in the 21st century. Palaeontologica Electronica, 14(1)

Death, Decay, and Disintegration: A newsletter on taphonomy edited by Roy Plotnick, Steve Speyer, and Sally Walker from 1989-1993.